Declares that the national admissions policy for faith schools is discriminatory; further that the Department for Education should abolish its current policy of a 50 per cent cap on faith-based school admissions; and, further, that a petition on this matter has gathered 155 signatures.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Department for Education to remove the 50 per cent cap on faith-based admissions, so that every child of faith can have access to faith school education.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Lucy Allan, Official Report, 29 January 2018; Vol. 635, c. 646.]
[P002101]
Observations from the Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb):
The Government remain committed to its long standing partnership with faith schools, which make up a third of all state-funded schools.
Church and other faith schools make a hugely positive contribution to our education system as consistently high-performing and popular schools. Many faith schools also work hard to promote and support integration and community cohesion. We want to make sure all children learn the values that underpin our society, which is why education was at the heart of the Integrated Communities Strategy.
Every child deserves access to a good school place and we want parents to have greater choice when it comes to their child’s school.
We have made it clear that we want to create more good school places and that includes Church and other faith schools. Where there is parental demand and where there is a need for places, we want to support the creation of those new schools.
We will set out our response to the “Schools that work for everyone” consultation in due course.